Fire in Panjab University administrative block; probe ordered

Chandigarh, May 14 (PTI) A major fire broke out at the administrative block of Panjab University here today, destroying some records of the accounts department.

It took about two hours for 10 fire tenders to put out the flames which engulfed the first floor of the Dewan Anand Kumar Hall, the administrative building of Panjab University, which has been facing a "financial crisis".

No casualty was reported in the incident, which took place around 3 am, Station Fire Officer Paramjit Singh Gill said.

An electric short-circuit was suspected to have triggered the fire. However, an inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the exact cause.

The fire was first noticed by a group of students coming from the library around 3 am. They saw thick smoke coming out from the building and alerted the varsitys security officials.

PU vice-chancellor Arun Kumar Grover said an inquiry committee would be constituted to ascertain the probable cause of the fire and assess the extent of damage.

Personnel of the Central Forensic Laboratory has visited the site, he said.

"Several documents have been destroyed, but the transactional data is retrievable," the VC said.

He said a safety assessment would be undertaken to prevent recurrence of fire incident. PTI SUN CHS SMN

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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